For a while now it's been possible to play Gamecube games directly with the Wii U gamepad as a controller. Not only this, you can also play PS1 and N64 games from the gamepad as well! This essentially makes it into a portable experience, well if you're close enough to the console that is. For those who love playing things off-TV, this is a really amazing feature to utilize. You could also play from a TV with the gamepad as a controller if you prefer.
It's now possible to force vWii to use Wii U CPU speeds to get a performance boost on PS1 and N64 emulators! PS1 games are now playable at fullspeed, well at least mainstream games are but not everything works.
Use Section I for Gamecube games, if that doesn't work then you'll need to use Section III instead. This tutorial doesn't require you to hack vWii at all, unless you're going to use section III.

This guide assumes that you have a basic understanding of Wii U hacks. Such as booting into Homebrew Launcher, running CFW, installing with Wup Installer GX2, how to use Nintendont, etc.

EDIT: Tutorial under construction, removed the premade homebrew injects as they used official Wii VC and are considered copyright infringement to share with others. Will add a tutorial on making your own whenever I feel like it sometime.





I. How to play Gamecube games on the gamepad

Spoiler

There are two methods for playing gamecube games on the gamepad. The first method is by making your very own indivisual Gamecube injection using Wii Virtual Console as a base, with the injector script.
The second method is to use a forwarder to Nintendont which then you can select a game from a list. Users mostly prefer method 1 because they like having indivisual gamecube titles on their Wii U home menu. It's all up to you which method you prefer. Both methods have gamepad support and save to the same location either way. You don't need to hack vWii at all to follow this section.



Method 1 - Indivisual Gamecube injects (Injecting Gamecube games into Wii VC which you can install)

Spoiler

1) Use this script to build your own Wii VC injects with gamecube games using your own .iso:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-wiivc-injector-script-gc-wii-homebrew-support.483577/

2) Once you've created your inject you should have install files, basically a bunch of .app and .h3 files in a folder. Place these on your SD card in the install folder (Same as installing Wii U games) SD:/install/NameofGame/ ~.app & .m3 files~

3) Download these Nintendont files HERE
(Courtesy of Flump for the upload)

4) Extract all the files to your SD card, Except the install folder (It's only needed for method 2)

5) On your Wii U, run CFW such as HaxchiFW or Mocha. Then launch WUP Installer GX2 to install your gamecube inject (To USB Storage or System Memory)

6) Now launch your gamecube inject from the Wii U home menu. It will ask if you want to use the gamepad as a controller, choose yes.
If your TV is turned off or the HDMI isn't connected, it will also ask if you only want to display on the gamepad. It will reboot into vWii mode and start the gamecube game.

Note: You always need to enable CFW before launching a Gamecube inject, else you'll get Error Code 99-9999 and be forced to shutdown. Even if you exit a game, you still have to enable CFW again before launching another

Note: For some users, the game may result in a black screen. As of right now, there is no explanation to this phenomenon or how to fix it. If this is the case, you won't be able to use method 1 or 2 in this section. Use the "All in One" method instead in Section III below as a workaround.

Method 2 - Nintendont forwarder (Boot directly into Nintendont where you can choose a game from a list)

Spoiler

1) Download these Nintendont files (REMOVED, make your own Nintendont inject with the Wii VC inject script. I can't help since its considered copyright)


2) Extract all files to your SD card, including the install folder (Which contains the Nintendont forwarder)

3) On your Wii U, run CFW such as HaxchiFW or Mocha. Then run WUP Installer GX2 to install Nintendont Forwarder (To USB Storage or System Memory)

4) Launch Nintendont from your Wii U home menu. It will ask if you want to use the gamepad as a controller, choose yes.
If your TV is turned off or the HDMI isn't connected, it will also ask if you only want to display on the gamepad. It will reboot into vWii mode and launches Nintendont.

Note: You always need to enable CFW before launching Nintendont, else you'll get Error Code 99-9999 and be forced to shutdown. Even if you exit a game, you still have to enable CFW again before launching Nintendont

Note: For some users, launching Nintendont may result in a black screen. As of right now, there is no explanation to this phenomenon or how to fix it. If this is the case, you won't be able to use method 1 or 2 in this section. Use the "All in One" method instead in Section III below as a workaround.

Nintendont usage tips

- Use the Official Nintendont Page for info on how to use Nintendont. It has everything you need to know!

- If you press "-" on your gamepad, it will change the control scheme to be rotated a quarter clockwise or back to the original control scheme. If you find the controls to be suddenly awkward, you must've hit the minus button by accident. Hit minus to change it back to regular controls and always remember this for future reference.
- If you hold "L" on your gamepad, your inputs on ZL/ZR will be used as half pressed L and R buttons in-game. Useful for games like Super Mario Sunshine.

- Saves are stored in SD:/saves/ as indivisual memory card .raw files. These are compatible with the Dolphin emulator and you can even use Dolphin's memory card manager to transfer saves from memory card to memory card

- You can trim your Gamecube .iso's to save space altogether by converting them to .ciso format. Use Wit (Wimm's ISO Tool)

- Check the compatibility list HERE . Note that shrunk is not the same as .ciso. All .ciso converted games will work, unlike shrunken games with DMToolbox.

II. How to play PS1 and N64 games on the gamepad

Spoiler

1) Open this google drive link:
(REMOVED, make your own WiiSXR and Wii64 injects with the Wii VC inject script. I can't help since its considered copyright)

2) Download "(WiiU Gamepad) Wii64.rar", and "(WIIU Gamepad) Wiisxr.rar"

3) On your SD card, make a folder called install. Extract the folders within the Wii64 and Wiisxr rar files into the install folder

4) Download Sign_c2w_patcher

5) Open the zip file and drag the wiiu folder to your SD card (merge it with your own if you already have one)

6) Download the latest release of Wii64 (Fix94's port of mupen64): https://github.com/FIX94/mupen64gc-fix94/releases

7) Download the latest release of Wiisxr: https://github.com/Mystro256/wiisxr/releases

8) Extract the folders from the Wii64 and Wiisxr zips to the root of your SD card, except the Readme file (There are two folders within each zip file that you need)

9) On your Wii U, run CFW such as HaxchiFW or Mocha. Then run WUP Installer GX2 and install Wii64 and Wiisxr (Install to System Storage ONLY! Don't install to USB)

10) Run Sign_c2w_patcher from Homebrew Launcher. It will reboot to the home menu with CFW enabled (This is needed to overclock vWii to get a performance boost for the emulators)

11) Run Wii64 or Wiisxr, it will ask if you want to use the gamepad as a controller, choose yes.
If your TV is turned off or the HDMI isn't connected, it will also ask if you only want to display on the gamepad. It will reboot into vWii mode then launch Wii64/wiisxr.

Note: You always need to run Sign_c2w_patcher before launching Wii64 or Wiisxr, else you'll get Error Code 99-9999 and forced to shutdown. You also won't get the overclocked CPU speeds needed for the performance boost.




Using Wiisxr

- You'll need a PS1 BIOS, place it in SD:/wiisx/bios/
- Place your PS1 games in SD:/wiisx/isos/ , they can be in either .bin or .img format (Also include the .cue/.ccd/.sub file if it exists)
- In Wiisxr, you'll need to go to settings to change some things
- Under General where it says Select BIOS, set it to SD (If you don't do this, you'll have no controls in-game)
- Be sure the option to "Boot with Bios" is set to yes
- Under Video, set the Screen Mode to 16:9
- Go back to General and choose "Save settings to SD", this saves the changes you made, permanently
- As you play different games, you'll need to change the controller type from time to time, either Standard or Analog
- For Crash Bandicoot or games without analog support, you can change the input of the DPAD to "LS-up, LS-Down, etc" to get analog controls with the gamepad. Be sure to save your button mapping to slot 1 so you can load it later. Then go back and choose Save Button Config to SD. (Thanks GameInCanada for that tip!)
- After saving in-game and you return to the Wiisxr menu, you may see a message that says "failed to save". Ignore this message, it did save successfully to your SD card in the wiisxr folder
- You'll also have to switch between Interpreter and Dynarec under Video. Check the Wiisxr compatibility list:

Wiisxr compatibilty list



Using Wii64

- Place your N64 roms in SD:/wii64/roms/
- Don't really have to change settings, everything is set properly by default. Including a memory pak
- Check the compatibilty list to see specific settings

Wii64 Compatibiltiy list

III. All in one solution for Gamecube, PS1, and N64 games on the gamepad (vWii Homebrew Channel with gamepad support. Use this if section I. didn't work on your system)

Spoiler

If you're interested in having Nintendont, Wiisxr, and Wii64 accessible all in one app, you can install Homebrew Channel forwarder on Wii U. This will boot up vWii Homebrew Channel but with gamepad support and you can launch Nintendont, Wiisxr, or Wii64 from there. You NEED to use this method if your Gamecube injects or Nintendont forwarder result in a black screen, this is a workaround to that issue. This section requires that you've hacked vWii already and can install .wad files. Use the Official vWii Hacking Guide if you haven't already, then come back to this guide and continue below.

1) Open this Google Drive link:

Spoiler

(REMOVED, make your own Homebrew Channel inject with the Wii VC inject script. I can't help since its considered copyright)

2) Download "(WIIU Gamepad) HBC.rar"

3) Extract the .rar file to the install folder on the root of your SD card

4) Download the latest release of FIX94's fork of Homebrew Channel (Called Homebrew.Channel.-.OHBC.wad): https://github.com/FIX94/hbc/releases/

5) Place the Homebrew Channel .wad file on the root of your SD card

6) Boot into vWii and install the Homebrew Channel .wad file using YAWMM (Yet Another Wad Manager) or any other wad manager. Ignore all the messages if using YAWMM, keep pressing A to skip the first messages you see. Then browse for the wad file and install it.

7) Exit vWii and run CFW such as HaxchiFW or Mocha. Run WUP Installer GX2 and install HBC (To System Storage ONLY! Don't install to USB)

8) Run "Homebrew Channel" from the Wii U home menu that you just installed. It will ask if you want to use the gamepad as a controller, choose yes.
If your TV is turned off or the HDMI isn't connected, it will also ask if you only want to display on the gamepad. It will reboot into vWii mode and launch Homebrew Channel, but with Gamepad support. Which means you can navigate with the gamepad buttons.

9) From Homebrew Channel you can launch Nintendont, Wii64, or Wiisxr. Don't launch anything else as they don't have gamepad support.

Note: You always need to run Sign_c2w_patcher before launching Homebrew Channel Forwarder else you won't get the overclocked CPU speeds needed for a performance boost with Wiisxr or Wii64. If you're just launching Homebrew Channel for use with Nintendont, you can use regular CFW such as HaxchiFW or Mocha.

 

[Powerful]

Nintendont is still ran from vWii in this case. I haven't experienced any input lag, give this a try and see how it feels. Nintendont has received countless updates since then.


Not64 doesn't have gamepad support, and must be launched from vWii. This specific version of Wii64 works with the gamepad.

Alright I set up the wii64

 

[HaloEffect17]

Any way to do this on redNAND where vWii doesn't work?

 

[jimmyj]

Oh yay I can play super man 64 on my wii u gamepad

 

[MattKimura]

Any way to do this on redNAND where vWii doesn't work?

Nope any business involving vWii will only work on Sysnand. You can still use sysnand however, you aren't stuck in rednand forever. Just simply not boot into it.


@jimmyj
It was already to play N64 VC games on the wiiu gamepad. But this allows you to run any roms you have, as well as in fullscreen rather than just a square.

 

[jimmyj]

Nope any business involving vWii will only work on Sysnand. You can still use sysnand however, you aren't stuck in rednand forever. Just simply not boot into it.


@jimmyj
It was already to play N64 VC games on the wiiu gamepad. But this allows you to run any roms you have, as well as in fullscreen rather than just a square.

I know,cool

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

@MattKimura I manage to successfully use your method 3. I dunno what the problem was but It was probably some homebrew apps on my sd card that was causing the error. For some reason the homebrew apps I had did not have any problems loading on the 1.1.2 homebrew channel but had problems on 1.1.4 homebrew channel. After replacing them, it managed to work as intended. Thank you for the guide and to others for any trouble shooting suggestions.

The only question i have is that the only emulators that work with the gamepad are Genesis plus gx 1.7.5 The n64 and psx emulators you had in your post linked. So do each homebrew app need to be updated to work with gamepad and this Hardware boost?

 

[LinKun]

Sometimes while playing my wiiu simply shut down

 

[Lava1000]

I booted the wii u homebrew channel forwarder with no sd card with haxchi fw and still got a exception (DSI) occurred! so maybe its the wad or... i dont know

 

[OrGoN3]

@MattKimura I manage to successfully use your method 3. I dunno what the problem was but It was probably some homebrew apps on my sd card that was causing the error. For some reason the homebrew apps I had did not have any problems loading on the 1.1.2 homebrew channel but had problems on 1.1.4 homebrew channel. After replacing them, it managed to work as intended. Thank you for the guide and to others for any trouble shooting suggestions.

The only question i have is that the only emulators that work with the gamepad are Genesis plus gx 1.7.5 The n64 and psx emulators you had in your post linked. So do each homebrew app need to be updated to work with gamepad and this Hardware boost?

Each homebrew app has to add support for libwiidrc and be recompiled with it. This is done on a per app basis. The ones OP included are the ones that are currently compatible. As for others, like USB Loader GX, you'll have to wait for creator/maintainer to update it. FIX94 himself updated WiiSXR, the OP's version of N64, the homebrew channel itself, and Nintendont.

 

[M7L7NK7]

is there some crazy way to make the wii u think a hard drive is an sd card so we can get around the hard drive issue??

 

[OrGoN3]

is there some crazy way to make the wii u think a hard drive is an sd card so we can get around the hard drive issue??

No.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I booted the wii u homebrew channel forwarder with no sd card with haxchi fw and still got a exception (DSI) occurred! so maybe its the wad or... i dont know

As I mentioned earlier, that error code is usually when you have a homebrew app with an invalid meta.xml file. Clean your SD card and put the newest version of your apps on it.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Each homebrew app has to add support for libwiidrc and be recompiled with it. This is done on a per app basis. The ones OP included are the ones that are currently compatible. As for others, like USB Loader GX, you'll have to wait for creator/maintainer to update it. FIX94 himself updated WiiSXR, the OP's version of N64, the homebrew channel itself, and Nintendont.

Well as far as the implementation of the wii u game pad for homebrew is, is working properly with no issues. The only thing that would make this better is if i didn't have to keep injecting gamecube channels into the wii menu to play different games. I hope someone has a way to just store all the games into one channel and be able to choose multiple games without having to restart the boot process all over.

If we could use wii flow to launch gamecube isos with nintendont, then it would return to wiiflow again when pressing home button instead of all the way to wii u home menu, to avoid repeating the boot process. Then maybe somehow least inject multiple games into the one channel so we don't have to have a bunch of channels. We do have a limit to how many channels can be on home menu, with one able to launch multiple games (nintendont and wbfs at once) would be efficient.

Of course is just a idea, I may have no idea what i'm talking about, in this case, ignore me.

 

[OrGoN3]

Well as far as the implementation of the wii u game pad for homebrew is, is working properly with no issues. The only thing that would make this better is if i didn't have to keep injecting gamecube channels into the wii menu to play different games. I hope someone has a way to just store all the games into one channel and be able to choose multiple games without having to restart the boot process all over.

If we could use wii flow to launch gamecube isos with nintendont, then it would return to wiiflow again when pressing home button instead of all the way to wii u home menu, to avoid repeating the boot process. Then maybe somehow least inject multiple games into the one channel so we don't have to have a bunch of channels. We do have a limit to how many channels can be on home menu, with one able to launch multiple games (nintendont and wbfs at once) would be efficient.

Of course is just a idea, I may have no idea what i'm talking about, in this case, ignore me.

You used method 3. You can just load up Nintendont from the Homebrew Channel and play any GameCube on your SD card.

 

[Lava1000]

@OrGoN3
I think it can also be cause i have a custom theme on the homebrew channel.

 

[OrGoN3]

@OrGoN3
I think it can also be cause i have a custom theme on the homebrew channel.

Well first do what I recommended: replace all of your Homebrew files with brand new ones, freshly downloaded. All of them. Then try. If the problem persists try using hbc without any custom work, straight from fix94's GitHub.

 

[Egwok]

This is awesome just finish doing his took me only a few hours cause I made a sd homebrew from scratch I follow step by step no I'm lieng I mixed up some steps since it was my first time doing it on a written tut and easy peasy boom everything fell in to place like a rrubrics cube I'm so happyyour was my first written tutorial man I liked and appreciate how easy your tut was but the only Lil flaw is even with s2p @Boot I still get 59.69 fps is this normal???

 

[Glyptofane]

Well, that sucks. I'm really only interested in playing GC and Wii games though. I'm sure for the latter I'd need the Wiimote and Nunchuk for most games.

I was wrong. Workarounds exist apparently, so don't not buy based on this. Some extra money may have to be spent to do what you want though.

 

[VashTS]

thanks for the write up. ive been hearing about this for a minute.

major question though - can we do this without the SD card? is there a way to get GC injects working and maybe put nintendont on vWii NAND somewhere? i don't think GC memory cards take up too much space but that could pose an issue.

 

[N7Kopper]

thanks for the write up. ive been hearing about this for a minute.

major question though - can we do this without the SD card? is there a way to get GC injects working and maybe put nintendont on vWii NAND somewhere? i don't think GC memory cards take up too much space but that could pose an issue.

It's possible, yes. But not on vWii NAND so much as Wii U NAND. Also, it's a colossal pain to update Nintendont if you install it that way, so you're better off with an SD Card.

Games can be put on the Wii U NAND, however. USB storage works too, but I haven't tried either of these (I have an Actually Decent SD Card) so I don't know what compatibility issues - if any - there are.

 

[SirNapkin1334]

Is it possible to merge the sign_c2w_patcher into a standard CFW? Or does it have weird side effects if not used for the methods above?